tropic (tropik)

and n. [OF. (and F.) tro (cf. D. G. tropisch = Sw. Dan. tropisk, pique = Pr. tropic = Sp. trópico = Pg. It. tropico tropic us, of or pertaining to the solstice ( Capri cornus tropic us, the tropic of Capricorn), as a pertaining to a turn or change, or the solnoun, one of the tropics; called); tropical. II. n. 1t. The turning-point; a solstitial point. This signe of Capricorne is also cleped the tropik of wyntur, for thanne bygynneth the sonne to come agayn to us-ward. Chaucer , Astrolabe, 1. 17. How that the Sun performing his course in the winter Tropick , and exhaling much moysture from Nilus, diminish eth him contrary to his nature. Sandys , Travailes, p. 77. 2. In astron., one of two circles on the celestial sphere whose distances from the equator are each equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or 234° nearly. The northern one touches the ecliptic at the sign Cancer, and is thence called the tropic of Cancer, the southern one being for a similar reason called the tropic of Capricorn. The sun's annual path in the heavens is bounded by these two circles, and they are called tropics because when the sun, in his journey northward or southward, reaches either of them, he, as it were, turns back, and travels in an opposite direction in regard to north and south. 3. In geog., one of two parallels of latitude, each at the same distance from the terrestrial equator as the celestial tropics are from the celestial equator - that is, about 234°. The one north of the equator is called the tropic of Cancer, and that south of the equator the tropic of Capricorn. Over these circles the sun is vertical when his declination is greatest, and they include the part of the globe called the torrid zone-a zone 47° in width, having the equator for its central line. 4. pl. With the definite article: the regions lying between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, or near them on either side.- Malignant fever of the tropics. See fever1. tropical (trop'i-kal), a. [ There are many things delivered rhetorically, many expre ions therein merely tropical . Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, Pref. of occurring -Tropical year. See year . Tropical absce es the trepiver, roping disa eases, diseases met with, as a rule, solely in the tropics. -Tropical duckweed. See Pistia. - Tropical grape. Same as sea - grape (which see, under grapel ). - Tropical homonym. See homonym. - Tropical lichen, in pathol., prickly heat. Encyc. Dict. Tropical month. See month, Tropical i a (trop-i-kali-a), n. [NL., IMG:content-0943.jpg:[blocks in formation] tropidial (tro-pid'i-al), a. [